Inside AJC

James Flynn, of Acworth, speaks about his experience as he waited for his 89-year-old mother-in-law to get off of her flight following a power outage at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Sunday. His mother-in-law, Virginia, made it safely off of her plane after 4 first responders carried her in a wheelchair, through the airport and to baggage claim. Photo: Dustin Chambers/The New York Times

The world’s busiest airport — at an absolute standstill

The performance of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by a middle school chorus flowed softly and ironically through the atrium at Hartsfield-Jackson International late Monday morning.

The big open space in the terminal was full of weary, unwashed faces; several people had simply pulled blankets over their heads. The departure board by noon showed traffic moving. Well, not all traffic:

Peruvian exchange students (from left) Isreal Rodriguz, Alessa Carbonell, Antonella Linare and Kayla Velasquez, were marooned at Hartsfield-Jackson on Monday. The students are entering a work-study program in Oregon, once they get to Oregon. ALYSSA POINTER/ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM
(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

On Monday, while travelers snoozed in the atrium or gazed into the middle distance, a group of Peruvian exchange students rested on the carpeted floor one story up, nibbling on gummy bears. They had tried to sleep on the floor the night before. Masses of people surrounded them. It was eerily quiet. And dark.

It’s difficult to imagine the scene at the airport on Sunday. The concourses and the underground transportation mall were plunged into darkness. Dozens of idle aircraft with hundreds of idle people sat on the tarmac.

In a darkened Concourse D, traveler Olivia Dorfman said, smoke filled the area near Gate D9A, and workers tried to herd passengers away from the smoky area. Then they seemed to herd passengers back toward it.

“This has been very bizarre,” Dorfman said. “No one seems to know what they’re doing.”

They continued not to know what they were doing for several hours on Sunday. Scores of people stood in lines that never seemed to go anywhere. The wait there was about five hours, with little news.

Ruth Osborn, 69, flew into Atlanta Sunday afternoon, expecting to board a connecting flight to Dallas. On the tarmac in Atlanta, a photo popped up in her text messages – homemade cornbread, chili, a table set in red and green for the holidays.

The cornbread and chili is waiting for you. It will still be warm for you when you arrive.

She was stuck on the plane for about two hours. By the time Osborn got inside the airport, there was no wi-fi and no food. She sat by a window for a sliver of light. Then she sat in darkness. At last she was able to get out and shuttle to a nearby hotel.

Passengers were still feeling the effects Monday of Sunday’s power outage at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as they had to endure long lines to claim baggage and ride shuttles. BOB ANDRES /BANDRES@AJC.COM
(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

By Monday, however, it was clear that she’d have to scratch the rest of her trip and return to Columbus. She couldn’t get to Dallas before late Monday night, and she was supposed to go home on Tuesday. Her lime green luggage – filled with toys and gifts – would go back to Columbus with her.

If you’re going to have a customer-service disaster in air travel, it’s probably a good idea to wait until the former U.S. secretary of transportation has left the building, or the plane. Anthony Foxx, a member of Barack Obama’s cabinet, was livid.

Georgia Power didn’t offer one, exactly. The company said its underground substation had caught fire just after noon on Sunday.

In a statement early Monday, the utility company said its burning “switchgear” was inconveniently adjacent to the “redundant” cables and switches serving the airport. The fire took out the redundant cables and switches, and HJIA went dark.

On Monday he even apologized for taking so long to apologize on Sunday. The mayor promised that a series of fixes by Georgia Power and the city would prevent a recurrence of the blackout. He also said the city would invest in “more aggressive portable lighting capability.”

Too late for the Kennesaw State University women’s basketball team, though. The team was stranded wtih everyone esle at Hartsfield-Jackson on Sunday, their Christmas trip to Puerto Rico for a basketball tournament over before it began.

Waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

Aksa Anwar and Salman Masood saved up for a year for their big honeymoon trip to Hawaii.

For a week, the Sandy Springs couple took in the sights and tastes of Maui, Oahu and Kauai. They hit the beaches. They ate shaved ice. They stopped by the roadside to drink sugar cane juice.

“We had a great time,” said Anwar, a data warehouse developer.

The return home, however, was not the perfect end to a perfect week.

After more than 20 hours aloft, they had to sit on the plane for 2½ hours before they were permitted to leave. Flight attendants handed out complimentary sodas and cookies. Their phone batteries were draining. “We could barely talk to our families,” Anwar said. “People were just tired and ready to get off the plane. Kids were crying. “

She was stunned at the scene in the airport. Stranded passengers were everywhere. On the floor. On the baggage carousel.

A 14-hour trip turned into a 25-hour trip start to finish.

“I probably won’t fly for a while,” said an exhausted Anwar, who was back at work Monday.

Deanna Doswell of Blakely, Ga., stood in line for five hours on Sunday, like everybody else, and then made her escape when police said people could clear out. Asked how she made her way to a hotel, she replied: “I stood for an hour in the taxi line.”

She booked a new flight to Kansas City departing at 10:20 p.m. Monday. But she had to check out of the hotel by 11 a.m. and didn’t want to pay for another day at the inn. So it was back to the airport for a 12-hour wait.

Nothing to it.

“I’ve got a book to read. And then I’ll get to buy another one and read it!” she said.